1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to apparatuses and methods for placing coils and phase insulation in the slots of a dynamoelectric machine stator core member, and more particularly to multi-station apparatus having core member loading and unloading, coil and phase insulation placing, preliminary end turn forming, and coil drifting stations and in which a fully wound core is inverted upon return to the loading/unloading station, and including an improved mechanism and method at the placing station for placing the phase insulation in the core member slots.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A stator for an alternating current dynamoelectric machine, such as a three-phase induction motor, conventionally comprises a laminated, internally slotted core member having insulative liners or cells in the slots, each slot liner having cuff portions extending from opposite sides of the core. Concentric coils forming the poles for each phase of the winding are arranged in successive, mechanically displaced layers in the slots with phase insulator elements interposed between the coil sides of different phases occupying the same slots.
The concentric coils forming the poles of each phase are commonly placed in the core member slots by the use of placing apparatus of the type shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,536, assigned to the assignee of the present application, which comprises a cylindrical array of elongated blade elements adapted to extend through the bore of the core member and respectively to engage the inner ends of the teeth which define the slots therebetween. Prewound coils are placed on the blade elements, prior to placing the core member thereon, such as by the use of a transfer tool as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,686,735, also assigned to the assignee of the present application. After positioning of the core member on the blade elements, the coils thereon are pushed through the bore by a stripper member, the coil sides thus entering respective slots, all as more fully described in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,536.
It is known in such coil placing apparatus to place phase insulators on the blade elements over the prewound coils thereon, the phase insulators then being pushed through the bore so that their leg portions enter the slots over the coils of another phase previously placed therein.
Following the placing of the coil forming each phase in the slots, the end turns of the coils at each end of the core member are conventionally formed outwardly away from the bore, and the coil sides in the slots are drifted or compacted in order to permit placing of the coils forming other phases therein.
In the use of prior coil placing apparatus of the type illustrated and described in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,536, it is known to hand-place a stator gauge tool and blade alignment tool over the elongated blade elements prior to positioning the core member thereon which assist in providing correct core-to-placer blade registration and detect loose, bent or misaligned core laminations. Such prior hand-placed tools are pushed through and out of the core member bore by the end turns of the coils as they are pushed through the bore by the stripper member.
It is also known in the forming of the end turns away from the bore to employ a "bullet" tool which extends through and clears the bore of a wound core member, an operator manually placing each end of the core on the tool in order to form the end turns. It is also known to employ a drift tool which enters the bore of a wound core member and has expansible fin elements which enter the slots thereby to compact the coil sides therein.